Make this popular chain restaurant salad at home
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- December 27, 2023
- 1115
This is a good movie night supper without much fuss.
It’s the Italian restaurant chain that, while remaining popular, is often the brunt of jokes and derision by purer Mediterranean hearts: Olive Garden, the place to get a plate of pasta worth three actual human meals.
All I ever want there is that big bowl of salad and the breadsticks, but just getting a bottomless salad and breadsticks exposes a little more of my cheapskate slip than I prefer to share, so I end up getting that three meal’s worth entree anyway and then don’t go there again for a long time, remembering all that heavy food.
I’m making that salad and those breadsticks at home now, and I even have the right salad dressing to go with. Once I found and modified some recipes, we have been having salad and bread for dinner often.
You may be tired of all the heavy holiday food and sweets, so I’m going to give you all three components for the salad and bread you can make easily and quickly at home and not wait for a table.
This is a good movie night supper without much fuss. The bread takes about an hour and 15 minutes to make while the salad and dressing are both a quick assembly. If you want to make the salad ahead, the trick is to pour the dressing into the bottom of the serving bowl, then add the lettuce and other ingredients. At serving time you can mix all of it up without it becoming sodden while waiting.
As with all bread baking, the quality of flour makes an enormous difference. Avoid the generic or highly processed stuff if you want good results.
BREADSTICKS
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
4 cups unbleached bread flour or use unbleached all purpose
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
1/4 cup melted butter mixed with 1 teaspoon garlic salt or use garlic powder and kosher salt
Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add the water, sugar and yeast. Stir to combine. Once the mixture is frothy, add the flour, salt and 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix until a smooth, elastic dough forms, about 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, mix by hand and knead on a lightly floured counter. Add a little more flour if needed but avoid adding too much; you want it to be a little sticky but not messy.
Roll the dough out into a square about 1/2-inch thick on your counter and cut into 12 equal pieces. Roll each into breadstick form and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. These are easier to roll if you do it on a dry counter with no flour. If the sticks seem too long, cut them in half for a more manageable length. Cover and let rise one hour.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Bake the bread for 12 minutes, then remove and brush with the butter and garlic salt mixture. Serve warm.
SALAD DRESSING
1 package Italian Salad dressing mix
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix all ingredients in a jar and shake well.
SALAD
1 24-ounce bag of your favorite mix of lettuces
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
1/2 small red onion, sliced very thin and into 1 inch pieces
1 cup canned large black olives
1 cup pepperoncini, whole
1 cup seasoned salad croutons
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all together and top with the dressing.